The number of executives who have dropped their plans to attend the conference knows as “Davos in the Desert” in Riyadh next week continues to rise in the wake of the disappearance and likely murder of Jamal Khashoggi , the Saudi journalist who was living in self-imposed exile.
JPMorgan Chase ’s (ticker: JPM) chairman and CEO Jamie DImon is no longer attending the Future Investment Initiative, a company spokesman tells Barron’s. BlackRock (BLK) chairman and CEO Larry Fink has decided to withdraw from the conference, according to a person familiar with the decision. Stephen Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group (BX) chairman and CEO will not attend either, a person familiar with the matter said.
Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, withdrew from the conference on Thursday. Ford Motors (F) chairman Bill Ford canceled his attendance on Sunday.
The wave of cancellations began with media organizations. The Washington Post, where Kashoggi was an opinion writer, withdrew, as did the New York Times, CNN, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, the Economist, CNBC and Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for Fox Business Network said the situation is under review. (Its parent company, 21st Century Fox (FOXA), shares common ownership with Barron’s parent.)
Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi, who entered the kingdom’s embassy in Instanbul but was never seen exiting. “The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats or attempts to undermine it,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
By the end of last week, the pressure on the executives scheduled to attend the conference appears to have been enough to move the event’s organizers to make an attempt at limited damage-control: The program had included dozens of prominent American executives as speakers, but on Friday morning, all names were scrubbed from the conference schedule.
Despite the withdrawal of some of the most high-profile attendees, a number of powerful and well-connected Wall Street figures still appear to be attending the conference. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is still attending.
David Bonderman, the founder of $70 billion private equity firm TPG, was listed as a speaker but the firm did not respond to a request for comment on his participation.
Bank of America (BAC), in response to whether whether its chief operating officer, Tom Montag, was still attending, said “we are evaluating the situation.”
Citigroup declined to comment on two of its executives who were listed as speakers: Michael Roberts, its chief lending officer, and Jay Collins, its vice chairman of investment banking who specializes in covering governments.
Goldman Sachs ’ Sheila Patel, who covers international clients for the bank’s asset management business and Dina Powell, who was previously a deputy national security advisor in the Trump administration and covers sovereign clients, both still plan to attend the conference, a spokesperson for the bank said, adding that they are monitoring the situation.
Ken Moelis, the founder of the boutique investment bank Moelis & Co. (MC), is still planning on attending, a company spokesperson said.
It’s not hard to understand why a phalanx of multinational executives wanted to go Riyadh or why a small-but-robust group is still making the trip despite the kingdom’s reported involvement in the murder of a critical journalist.
The kingdom has a quarter-trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, wants to take its oil company public at a $2 trillion valuation, and has a plan to spend $500 billion to build a city from scratch. And its ambitious de facto leader wants to diversify the kingdom’s economy over the next 12 years.
The crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has already given Softbank $45 billion for its $93 billion Vision Fund, and said earlier this month that he’s going to commit another $45 billion. And last year, the prince, known as MBS, pledged up to $20 billion to a Blackstone infrastructure fund, although much of that commitment has not yet been triggered.
Write to Ben Walsh at ben.walsh@barrons.com
